"Hey guys, did you hear the news? That beauty, Mu Lin, has broken through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, just a week after the Black-Armored Beauty."
"What!? We must hurry and congratulate her then, I heard she always smiles at people when after her breakthrough."
"You simp, just for a smile? You better hurry and cultivate, otherwise, the between you will just get bigger. Perhaps she will already have chosen an cock for her when you breakthrough too."
The Trial sect was in a small uproar after the news was disseminated. After all, it was just the eighth month since the beginning of her trial period, but she had already become a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator!
Ji-Yoon was instantly happy after hearing the news, he could finally break through too! It's just like a promotion from a sweeping-floor recruit to a dignified cannon-fooder soldier!
"Phew, those guys sure shit a lot. It has been only a day but the pit is already full..." he murmured with a black face.
"Brother Ji, are you going to cultivate too?" asked a man close to him. He was called Latrines' Li by some disciples.
"Brother Li, didn't you hear the news? We need to hurry too. The sooner we become Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators the better the benefits," Ji-Yoon said with a smile and patted his shoulders. Of course, he first made sure there was no shit on it.
"I know. But don't you want to have a bit of fun today? Some senior brothers from the outer sect invited me and others to go to a special place near here..."
Ji-Yoon looked at him with pity. This guy had a bad reputation and was bullied a lot, he probably won't be having fun there, others will. But he can understand he was just a bit naive, he was just a teenager after all.
"Brother Li, I recommend you to not go. You can get better goods after becoming an outer sect disciple. Those at that place are overused already."
"Is that so? Well, you should be right," Li muttered.
After cleaning his clothes carefully on the lake, Ji-Yoon bid farewell to him and the others, "See you tomorrow, the sun already set."
Sitting on his cushion, he swallowed a Foundation Pill he received from the sect and immediately started his breakthrough, which didn't need a technique, all Major Breakthroughs are like this and one needs to rely only on his comprehension.
His True Qi Sea seemed solid at that point because it was way too dense, but under the effect of the pill and his control, it started to fuse with his Dantian along with the mystical root.
His mystical root expanded frantically, rotating faster and faster until it finally reached the limits of his Dantian, which had been expanded by several times before.
Soon, the three things finally became one. His True Qi Sea revolved along with his mystical root, turning fluid again under pressure. His Dantian was already merged with both so it was also rotating, a bit like a core...
A vortex formed around Ji-Yoon, and it was many times bigger than the first. However, it seemed to not affect the things around, like an illusion. Not even his clothes are affected.
However, a vast amount of mystical energy was being absorbed by him, becoming True Qi and strengthening his whole body. His meridians were strengthened and expanded several times.
Surprisingly, his internal energy was also strengthened, turning even more massive than before. However, it was already starting to be overshadowed by the True Qi, which was much more powerful now.
But the thing that most caught his attention was that the True Qi was opening a new path. A new meridian was slowly formed toward his head. And there, it reached an unknown area.
'It's the Consciousness Sea!'
Instantly, he felt like his mind detached from his body. Even with his eyes closed, he could feel all things near him, and even 'see' them!
After a full hour, his breakthrough was finalized and his cultivation base stabilized. Ji-Yoon breathed with relief and smiled while opening his eyes slowly.
'It's indeed much stronger than the Qi Refining Realm, more than ten times! Moreover, I can finally use Ethereal Mind!' he thought happily, almost losing composure.
If he wanted to, he could feel and see all things within a hundred-meter radius, and it would grow along with his cultivation base.
[Ding! Dong! Congratulations host for reaching the next Major Realm. Your future is unfathomable, cause and effect bow down to you. No one can stand in your path to greatness. Your harem will be of ten thousand women and you won't need to remember their names.]
'...'
[Ding! Dong! Congratulations host on receiving the 'Breakthrough Pack, level 1.']
"Hoho! Finally something good!" Ji-Yoon laughed. But it didn't end yet.
[Ding! Dong! Because you broke through a major realm, the system was upgraded to the next level and your daily rewards will tend to be of a higher grade than before.]
"Yeah! Now I'm feeling like a transmigrator again!" Ji-Yoon nodded and directly opened the new pack.
[Ding! Dong! Congratulations on receiving the Myth-Grade item: All-in-One Foundation Cultivation Technique, which can be used until the peak of your current Realm.]
"Another Myth-Grade item!? Cool! Hahahhahahaha... Oh no, I'm starting to lose my composure again... ahahhahahaha!" Like a maniac, a man... a child was laughing hard alone in his cave.
"It's just like the saying, 'Good things come in batch...' System, scan it for me!" Ji-Yoon stopped laughing, but his grin was from ear to ear.
All the contents of the manual were instantly engraved firmly in his mind. Even if he wanted to, it would be difficult to forget anything.
This Cultivation Technique was unbelievably complex and involved many mysteries he couldn't understand immediately. He would have to spend a long time comprehending it to be able to start cultivating.
Fortunately, he amassed a lot of resources from those months, he couldn't use all of them so he just kept them. Now, they will be the 'fuel' of the IQ booster.
"Use all remaining compatible resources. Activate the IQ booster for ten hours, use the maximum boost possible!"
[Ding! Dong! IQ booster will be active for ten hours, multiplying a hundred times your base IQ.]
He then felt his mind getting unbelievably sharper and brighter than before. He suddenly felt he was quite dumb because he instantly understood all the doubts he had before in an instant.
'Ais, the world is so unfair. What is the meaning of life? No! Wait! I can't fall into an existential crisis in this state!'
He then started to drink to try to forget his sorrows, but the wine couldn't get him drunk anymore so he could only curse to vent his frustration.
After wasting some time stabilizing his emotions, he started to meditate. He was much more reserved than before after suffering such a humiliating setback. He would never let his thoughts wander in this state again.
The time passed quickly for him, but after just six hours he had already comprehended the cultivation technique completely. He then understood that the hundred times boost was much more than just a hundred times smarter. He wouldn't be able to progress so fast even if he closed himself for a hundred hours, or even a thousand hours.
He also understood why it was myth-graded. It was simply too OP. He could even merge his internal energy with his True Qi, fundamentally changing and turning his body completely detached from his past mortality. It also involved many mysteries of the Mortal and Life Daos.
He already had a good comprehension of the Mortal Dao, and with the IQ booster, the Life Dao seemed easy to understand.
Unfortunately, he can't enter closed-door cultivation, otherwise, he would reach the peak of the Initial layer in a week or two, the middle layer in a month, and the peak layer in two. Moreover, he won't be able to hide his quick advancement from the elders and end up attracting unwanted attention to himself.
Seeing that he still had a few boosted hours left, he got out of his cave and ran towards the Human Pavilion to get a Foundation Level Dao Art, which is one of the rewards for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm. He also received a new cultivation technique, which he directly tossed on the system's storage without even looking.
Without wasting any time, he quickly choose an adequate Dao Art for him and returned to his safe mountain hole.
The art he choose was called 'Human Myriad Dao Forms', which was the advanced version of the previous Dao Art.
He spent only one hour to completely comprehend and master the Dao Art. He also revised the previous Dao Art to make sure he hadn't made any mistakes, and he did.
He then used the rest of the time to comprehend some simple alchemy manuals that every trial disciple can get from the 'Alchemy Pavilion.'
When the time was up, he felt he became dumb. He suddenly doubted his life. Were humans so stupid? Can he even cultivate without it?
[Ding! Dong! Host, be careful to not get addicted to it.]
'Nonsense. I'm not rich enough... Yes, just because I'm not rich enough...' A crazed expression appeared on his face.
[Ding! Dong!]
"Cough! Cough!"
Ji-Yoon got out of the cave before dawn and started to wander around without aim, seemingly in deep thoughts.
But suddenly, he saw that someone was looking in a mirror under a tree close to the mountain stairs. This person was doing weird poses while wearing just his pants.
'Really, the mortal Dao is in all things...' Ji-Yoon shook his head and clicked his tongue in wonder. He was almost sneaking out of the potential problems when he suddenly thought that person looked familiar.
Looking at him again but with sharper eyes, he started to doubt his life again. 'Fuck, isn't he Deacon Li!? Did he go crazy? Or am I seeing things?
'No, he is Deacon Li, but he looks younger than before, although still old.'
Out of curiosity, he stealthily approached the deacon. He then understood what happened.
'This geezer, he actually broke through to the Life and Death Realm! So that's how it is.'
Deacon Li suddenly felt someone was looking at him and panicked for a moment before putting the mirror away and walking out of there as if nothing had happened.
'Fuck, was I busted? How shameful! It's my fault for not being able to restrain myself after just breaking through.'
Ji-Yoon returned to his cave wearing a mischievous grin. 'To think that this old geezer has such a hobby... hahaha! I will surely use it to blackmail him later.'
After reporting his breakthrough, Ji-Yoon also got a new gauntlet, this time a low-level mystical weapon. He then returned his unused gauntlet, it never had the chance to even see a fight.
The benefits didn't stop there though, he started to receive a Foundation Refining Pill every day from the sect. But he still needs to complete his duties daily.
At least, the news was quickly disseminated in the trial sect, and even the outer sect disciples won't easily try to bully him anymore.
But it just increased his vigilance. Generally, after the small ones are unable to cause trouble, the big ones appear. What if some inner disciple thinks he is an eyesore? Won't he end up having to kill an Elder or even the whole Sect to end the feud?
He was always on high alert. When he saw someone that seemed important in the way of his daily duties, he simply avoided them before being seen.
And so, days passed. More and more trial disciples reached the Foundation Establishment Realm while the end of the Trial Period neared.
Ji-Yoon did meet the Deacon Li, who surprisingly became an Inner Disciple directly from being a poor Trial Deacon, he also started to cultivate. He had to call him Senior Brother Li from then on. At the same time, he suddenly felt it wasn't morally right to blackmail other people.
As a disciple of an Orthodox Sect, he had to be upright and honest! Especially if the other part had a higher status than him.